Traditional deck railings consist primarily of vertical balusters of wood or PVC in a variety of shapes, either set into specially shaped top and bottom rails, or attached to standard pieces of lumber. Most of the rail components are pressure-treated to resist rot and mildew but have to be cleaned, painted and/or sealed on a regular, often yearly basis, depending on the climate. Additionally, attaching such wooden balusters can be labor intensive and requires care while working with wood, due to the naturally occurring deformations and tendency to split.
Some railing developers have endeavored to form railings employing horizontal wires or wire rope, spaced equally according to building regulations. Although most of the wire rope contemplated or used is stainless, the end fittings employed in such systems are either not stainless, and therefore corrode faster, or are stainless but require swaging by machine or manually with special hand swaging devices. In most cases, such end fittings are not reusable, and often must be discarded if not installed correctly, resulting typically in a significant waste of wire rope as well. In other systems, wire rope ends are formed into a loop and crimped, which is very unsightly. In yet other systems, several types of fittings are required for installation and tensioning the installed wire rope sections.
A further significant disadvantage of existing railing systems is that average homeowners and even semi-skilled construction workers find installations to be difficult or impossible. The knowledge required to correctly swage for sufficient breaking strength, and to choose the correct fittings and wire rope is usually possessed only by specialty industrial or marine (i.e., sailing, rigging) companies, which greatly limits their use in standard residential installations. Furthermore, such specialized know-how makes stainless systems too expensive to be considered for standard houses, and impossible to mass market.
Other existing systems have even more pronounced limitations that become evident when railings are to be installed on stairs leading from or to a deck. There are too many variables to make such systems easy to install; in every existing application different fittings have to be chosen, or standard ones modified, to allow them to be used. Presently, the scope of installations on stairs requires considerable knowledge, far beyond that of the average homeowner or general contractor.
There is a well-established general trend and desire for homes and commercial structures to be largely maintenance free, which can be seen from the introduction of decking material made from recycled plastic, and the use of PVC posts and other more easily manipulated building materials.
Accordingly, an objective of the present invention is to introduce maintenance-free deck railings that can be successfully installed with simple tools by either unskilled construction workers, or by very moderately skilled homeowners.